John Schofield pleased with his side after draw with Everton in Premier League Cup

John Schofield was pleased with his Development side after Rovers secured a draw with a very strong Everton U23s side in the Premier League Cup.

Rovers took a 3-1 lead early in the second half, but Everton showed exactly why they are top of the group by mounting an impressive comeback to draw 3-3.

“Once you get 3-1 up, you’re disappointed you haven’t won but that’s natural,” Schofield admitted.

“I was really pleased with the match, it was a good performance and really good high energy.

“Everton had a really good team out which provided a really good test for us so our players have learned heaps today.”

There were a number of first-team players involved in the squad including Alfie May, Kieran Sadlier and Niall Mason, and Schofield said that playing alongside those players will have provided a great learning experience for his young players.

“It was a good mix of young and experienced players,” he added.

“You’ve got Myron Gibbons playing alongside two first-team players, he can do nothing but gain confidence from that. He’ll have learned more from that game than from all the training sessions we do in a week.

“It’s a learning curve but I believe the players will be a lot stronger for it. I think those are the first points Everton have dropped in this competition so we can definitely take something from that.”